Kasich joins the fight for the White House

In November 2010, he was narrowly elected as governor. Even though Reagan lost in that year, he drew inspiration from Reagan’s tenacity in coming back to win four years later.

And Ohio is special. But he regained his political footing, and last November won reelection to Ohio’s top office in a landslide, crushing Democratic challenger Ed Fitzgerald by a 31-point margin.

John Kasich is seen signing House Bill 93 into law surrounded by members of SOLACE from Scioto County in 2011.

At a speech in South Carolina, the outrageous Republican presidential hopeful gave all within earshot the cell phone number of the state’s senior USA senator, Lindsey Graham.

The speech will take place at his alma mater, where he studied political science and once wrote an essay that landed him 20 minutes with President Richard Nixon.

Like several Republicans running this cycle, Kasich’s future will largely depend on his showing in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary. John served in the US House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001.

The Kasich campaign must hope his announcement results in a polling bounce. His affiliated campaign group, New Day for America, began airing its second television ad in the state this past weekend on WMUR (Channel 9). He also worked as an investment banker and managing director at Lehman Brothers.

But Ohio Rep. Tim Derickson, R-Hanover Twp., said despite what Democrats believe, Kasich “has a track record”. He ran in 2000 before giving way to George W. Bush.

The governor spoke from inside the Ohio Union atrium on the OSU campus, a tight, narrow, three-story setting that can accommodate about 1,800 people.

But Kasich also said, “American has become strong”, by “staying together with our eyes on the horizon”.

“I have the experience and the testing”, said Kasich, “the testing which shapes you and prepares you for the most important job in the world and I believe I know how to work and help restore this great United States”.

And here is his campaign video. Pauken thinks he knows why Kasich waited so long.

Some on the Republican side say he is not conservative enough. Strickland voted against the assault weapons ban in Congress in 1994 while Kasich supported the legislation.

Still, some like him so far. Or they could decide to let everyone support whoever they’d like.

Politics aside, Kasich faces another tough challenge: He’s pretty unknown.

“When you’ve been able to have success in the state and be re-elected overwhelmingly, clearly, that puts him in a very small tier of potential candidates who could be the nominee or be on the ticket”, Hottinger said.

Everyone we talked with thought Kasich could turn around the budget deficit.

Has Kasich entered the race too late to have a fighting chance? There are a lot of people running for president. Kasich said we must help those “who have not been dealt the best hand in life”.